[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
[Page 715]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7188--National Science and Technology Week, 1999

April 23, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The American experience is deeply rooted in the desire to expand our 
frontiers and increase our knowledge about ourselves and our world. We 
stand at the end of a century marked by wondrous advances in science and 
technology--advances that have immeasurably improved the lives of our 
citizens. As recently as 100 years ago, space travel, genetic 
engineering, and telecommunications existed only in the realms of 
imagination and science fiction. Today, the nascent International Space 
Station, the nearly complete Human Genome Project, and the flourishing 
Internet attest to the great strides our civilization and our Nation 
have made. The scope and speed of our discoveries are truly 
breathtaking, and each day new applications of science and technology 
enrich our lives in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, 
engineering, and the arts.
    Recognizing the importance of maintaining America's scientific and 
technological leadership, my Administration is seeking increased funding 
in areas like biomedical research and in earth and space sciences. My 
fiscal year 2000 budget also proposes a 28 percent increase in 
information technology research to finance a new initiative--Information 
Technology for the Twenty-First Century (IT<SUP>2</SUP>). This 
initiative will support long-term information technology research that 
will lead to fundamental advances in communications and improvements in 
computing.
    During National Science and Technology Week, in communities large 
and small, engineers, scientists, educators, business people, and 
community leaders will lead observances to help their fellow citizens 
appreciate the world's scientific and technological wonders. I encourage 
all Americans--and especially our young people--to participate in the 
many educational activities taking place across our Nation. The more we 
understand and appreciate the extraordinary tools that science and 
technology place at our fingertips, the more we can accomplish in our 
efforts to create a cleaner environment, healthier families, better 
schools, and a brighter future. The only limit on our achievements is 
our imagination.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 25 
to May 1, 1999, as National Science and Technology Week. I call upon 
educators and students, the business community, and all the people of 
the United States to work this week and throughout the year to learn 
more about the contributions science and technology make to our lives 
and our future.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third 
day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 27, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
28.